A Man And His Dreams Businessman Has A Lot On His Mind, Including A Plan For U.s. Budget.

June 21, 1992|By VICKI McCASH, Business Writer

At 75, John H. Perry Jr. has two more things to accomplish in life: balance the federal budget and massmarket a car that runs on water.

Perry has done other things people said were impossible.

``His head works all the time,`` said Charles Weeks of West Palm Beach, Perry`s friend for 50 years. Weeks met Perry when both were young Army Air corpsmen during World War II. ``I don`t think he even stops to sleep.``

A millionaire many times over, the Jupiter businessman is known for his determination. The father of six is involved in about a dozen companies. A former publisher, cable magnate and owner of a successful ocean engineering firm, Perry is known to friends and business acquaintances as a visionary who gets things done.

``He really thinks that once he has a vision, he just has to sit back and wait for it to happen,`` said Jerry Jones, Perry`s right-hand man and president of Perry`s newest company, Energy Partners of North Palm Beach.

These days Perry is focused on two passions: developing energy systems and vehicles that use hydrogen fuel extracted from water and pushing a plan that would balance the federal budget and return corporate taxes to registered voters through his National Dividend Plan. Both projects are the crystalization of Perry`s lifelong dreams.

``These are the two things I hope to do before I die,`` Perry said. Not that death is beckoning. Perry still works every day and pushes constantly to see his ideas bear fruit.

``You ought to be the poor damn businessman trying to make it into reality,`` Jones said. ``It`s a major leap forward in faith.``

Still, many of Perry`s visions have been realized over the years.

As a publisher in the 1960s, he pioneered the change that led to the modern computerized newspaper. In the 1970s, he recognized the future of cable television and made millions turning cable into a necessary household utility in Florida.

He sold Perry Publications, including the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, in 1969 and the cable enterprise in 1986, and used the proceeds to finance Perry Oceanographics. The ocean engineering firm developed the first one- and two-person submarines and began work on alternative energy systems that continues at Energy Partners today.

Perry Oceanographics` subs were used extensively by the offshore oil industry. The proceeds from Oceanographics paid for development of alternative fuels.

Perry Oceanographics also built the underwater Hydrolab used to train Apollo astronauts, on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

In the 1990s, Perry`s Energy Partners is researching and developing the use of a hydrogen fuel cell to power automobiles and vans without harmful emissions. Hydrogen can be extracted from water through the use of electricity.

A $3 million prototype automobile, the Green Car, will make its first test run under hydrogen power sometime this summer, Perry said.

``It`s a great thing to do,`` Perry said. ``You`re going to get rid of environmental problems much sooner with this. It makes us independent of foreign oil and helps clean up the air.``

Energy Partners also is working on a system to get hydrogen from sea water using the energy from the sun at Perry`s private island in the Bahamas.

Most of Perry Oceanographics was sold in 1990 to finance Energy Partners, which is not yet making a profit.

``He`s in the spend-money mode,`` Jones said. ``He`s saying, `Let`s get the technology nailed down.` But he fully expects to make money on this.`` Jones said he is trying to put together an international consortium with the resources to put the Green Car into commercial production.

Perry also thinks his other pet idea -- the National Dividend Plan -- is growing closer to reality, particularly with the recent push for a balanced budget amendment.

For at least 40 years, Perry has honed his plan to balance the federal budget, stimulate business, increase voting and make Congress more responsible.

In essence, it is a plan to turn corporate income taxes into cash for every registered voter every year there is no federal deficit.

The plan would freeze federal spending until the budget is in surplus -- about three years, Perry estimates. Once the budget is balanced, corporate taxes would be funneled to a fund that would return cash to registered voters, giving them an interest in voting for representatives who keep the budget under control.

Perry has consulted with dozens of economists on the plan and has spent $10 million trying to get it passed in Congress.

Perry says he will not give up, and that`s no surprise to those who work with him.

``All the things he`s attempted to do in his life have been to benefit mankind,`` said David Henderson, president of Americans for the National Dividend Fund, Perry`s lobbyist for the plan for the past eight years. ``He`s a man undaunted by things that seem to be impossible.``

BIG IDEAS

John H. Perry Jr. of Palm Beach is considered a visionary by some and an eccentric by others. Some of Perry`s businesses and ideas:

--ALTERNATIVE FUEL: His firm, Energy Partners, is researching and developing hydrogen-fuel technology that can be used to power cars with no harmful emissions, submarines and electric generators.

--SUBMARINES: Perry Oceanographics, which was sold in 1990, developed and sold one- and two-person submersible vehicles. In 1968, the company built the underwater Hydrolab used to train astronauts for weightlessness.

--PUBLISHING: In the 1950s and `60s Perry Publications published 28 newspapers, including the Palm Beach Post. Perry is credited with pioneering the use of computers to automate newspaper production in the composing room.

--POLITICS: Perry has been pushing an idea called the National Dividend Fund, which would eliminate the federal deficit and return a yearly dividend to registered voters each year the federal budget is balanced.